-Tate's POV-

My boat trip towards Mossdeep wasn't nearly as animated without company. I piloted in silence for over an hour, with the boat's engine and the waves being the only sounds to break my melancholy.

I had plenty of time to think.

We had gone in that expedition in her suggestion. She had been pestering me about visiting the graveyard during the night since the first ghost sighting at the place, and for days I had been saying no.

"Tate, let's go!"

"No."

"Please, Tate, we have to go and see the ghosts! It will be cool!"

"No."

"Please!"

"No."

"Tate!"

"No."

"Let's go!"

"No."

"YES!"

"Yes."

Why did I change my mind? Why did I agree with her? Why didn't I tell papa about her stupid idea? Why did I let her take me unattended?

I was a slave of my curiosity. I let my thirst for knowledge blind my judgement.

I remembered that white orb of light, Liza's spirit, getting imprisoned inside the Odd Keystone. That could have been avoided with another no.

I glanced at poor Moonlight, who lay dead right behind me, courtesy of one of the ghosts. Banette, that was its name. Her sacrifice wouldn't have been needed had I said no.

I sadly thought about Summer. He wasn't imprisoned in a cursed cage or dead, but his pokeball weighted in my pocket. He had been badly injured during the fight. But how badly? Would he be alright later on? Would he blame me? The stoick solrock was always so quiet, so supporting of everything I did. He had been like this ever since he hatched years before. Would that change?

My thoughts finally strayed to the duskull. I didn't know what to think about him. In a way, this was partially his fault, as he had been the one who took us to Spiritomb. He was so friendly, so cheerful that I just couldn't distrust him. And that had led to this.

But then again, we would probably have found the entity sooner or later, anyway. We were roaming its territory. Besides, duskull had tried to help us afterwards; he risked his life defending me from his comrades, he had exiled himself for me. Perharps he was saying the truth. Perharps he really didn't know how badly Spiritomb's breakout could end. I didn't have the chance to read his emotions, but the injuries he received and caused were very real.

I wondered if he would attend my last wish and manage to steal the Odd Keystone with Liza. I could only pray that he did, as it was my only hope to ever hace a chance to free my sister. Though I had no idea about what he could get with that.

And there was papa. How would I explain it to him? We had sneaked away during the night, stolen his motorboat and used it to go into a potentially dangerous building infested with beings we didn't understand. How would I tell him that our reckless stunt led Liza to be imprisoned into a godly stone and set an ancient psychotic freak free, which then led to one of the pokemon he raised to die?

I would be lucky if he even believed me...

But things couldn't go all that bad, could they? I mean, there was an specialist in ghosts residing in Hoenn, who was also a member of the Elite Four. Phoebe could probably handle the threat should it get too big. And even if she couldn't, there was also Sidney, who was a dark master. Not to mention that, even if with neutral type relations, the rest of the Elite Four and the champion would be helpful. If Summer and Moonlight were able to take on the ghost horde for a while, Spiritomb stood no chance.

And despite this logical thinking, I couldn't get rid of the feeling that its plan was more complex than what it seemed. The amalgamate freak seemed smarter than just charging headfirst into a fight, specially when in the body of a young girl.

At least for now, Liza was too precious for it to risk unnecessarily.

Oh, Liza...

I was so lost in my thoughts that I failed to realise that the boat was slowing down until it stopped dead on its tracks with a jolt, causing me to stumble into the controls and hit my head. Cursing under my breath, I dizzily hooked myself up and blinked rapidly before leaning over the border to see what had happened.

At first, there didn't seem to be anything; the engine was still working, furiously expelling bubbles and water around, but the boat sinply wasn't moving. I then spotted the two long, slimy tentacles wrapped tightly around the vessel, connected to something I couldn't clearly see from the surface. As I watched in horror, the tips of the tantacles went through the hull of the boat and the engine soon produced a strangled screech before stopping working.

Silence.

My heart was pretty much bouncing across my chest as I waited for something to happen. The tentacles released the boat now that it couldn't flee and slowly withdrew into the water. There was no doubt that it was a ghost. No tentacool could go through objects or hold down a vessel, and that worried me. I could deal with a tentacool. Not with an ethereal monstrosity from below with, presumably, a double advantage over my already injured solrock.

I felt a shiver in my spine and turned around with an idea of what I would find. Just as expected, the thing was there, floating right in front of me.

The ghost had a blue jellyfish-like body with two long tentacles sprouting from its torax. The pokemon had a massive head with a blowhole on the top, and its deep red eyes were staring at me blankly as some water spouted from the blowhole. I tried to read its emotions, but I couldn't concentrate enough as it moved slightly closer.

"Hello." I muttered, backing against the border. Had this thing been sent by Spititomb? Sounded unlikely, since it hadn't back there in Mt. Pyre and even then, something so big couldn't outrun a motorboat like that. Or at least I hoped so.

"Hello." It answered calmly, causing me to jump! Another talking ghost?! It floated its lower half into the floor to be eye leveled with me, eyes narrowed. "Hm, you are one curious human."

"W-why?" I questioned the ghost, gulping.

"I can smell so much life in you. But you smell weirdly. There is something fishy about you. You don't smell like a regular human." The jellyfish explained, its cold tentacle shifting to touch my face, causing me to recoil. That thing was...unsettling, to say the least. "What's with you, little one?"

"Huh...I don't really know." I murmured, staying as far from that slimy tentacle as possible. "M-maybe because I'm a psychic? I-is that it?"

"Hm, perharps." The ghost hummed, floating away and leaving my personal space alone, much to my relief. But it wasn't satisfied. "No. It's not that. Well, not only that. You have been in contact with a ghost, haven't you?"

That took me by surprise. The jellyfish could smell a ghost's scent? I mean, it makes sense and all, but did that mean that the Mt. Pyre army could track me down?

"Haven't you?" It repeated irritatedly, snapping me out of my daydream. It seemed to calm down upon my hurried nod. It apparently wasn't going to kill me, so I decided to take a risk.

"What kind of pokemon are you?" I asked, bracing myself for a negative reaction. I only got an annoyed sigh.

"Really? You haven't figured it out yet? I am a jellicent."

"J-jellicent?" I couldn't help but yelp in fear. Jellicent. I had heard this name before. Terribly feared among sailors sailors, these sea ghosts were apparently responsible for many disappearences of ships. They would envelop vessels with their long tentacles and pull them down to the bottom of the ocean, where they would absorb the crew's remaining life force and boil the corpses in their digestive cavity located at the blowhole.

"Yes, jellicent." He (I assumed it was a male) rocked his body in what I presumed was a nod, chuckling softly. "I know my kind has a bad reputation among humans, but worry not. I am not here to hurt you, that is, unless you try to put me in one of those red balls."

"I-I won't!" I quickly shook my head. The last thing I needed was to aggravate another dangerous pokemon.

"Wonderful." Jellicent nodded again, adopting a more serious tone. "Now, there is something I need to know. By the direction you come from, I presume you were visiting that big mountain infested with ghosts, am I correct?"

"You mean Mount Pyre? Y-yes, why?" I squealed as jellicent growled and launched a Brine from his hole into the sky.

"I have been living in this area for decades and have been around that mountain countless times. I am well aware that other ghosts live there, but as far as I know, none ever came in contact with humans, for I neer felt their scent in people crossing the sea. But I feel it on you." He floated menacingly before me, his blowhole bubbling in anger.

"I-is that bad?" I asked with a squeak, protecting my face with my hands. Jellicent sighed and stared at me intensely.

"If the old rags up there are getting agitated after so long, they aren't planning anything good. I like you, boy, don't get me wrong. You interest me and I wish you no harm, no matter what your sailor stories have to say. However, you are going to tell me what happened back at the mountain detail by detail, or I am afraid I will have to force this information from your mouth the hard way."

Strong argument. I hesitated a bit, but I told him everything. He listened patiently to my story, showing no visible reaction until the end.

"Your sister freed the Spiritomb Clan." Jellicent said slowly, as if digesting the words. "Do you know what that means to the world, boy?"

"It will try to acquire enough power to split back into the ancient army. Apparently, powered up Spiritomb warriors could dominate the world." I answered with a gulp, feeling that this wasn't all. Jellicent's slow nod proved me correct.

"They will, that's for sure. But doesn't it sound incomplete? Even if they manage to kill the absurd amount of people or pokemon necessary to split back into 108 individuals, we have to take into account that human technology has evolved drastically through the decades. You have powerful ranged weaponry and items that enhance a pokemon's attributes. And we have gotten far stronger as well."

"Then what is the issue?"

"From what you told me, Spiritomb has become the Alpha of the mountain." Jellicent said patiently, continuing upon my nod. "Every colony has its informants, its scouts. If Spiritomb has any intelligence and judgement, they have been keeping themselves informed about their enemies. They cannot just charge headfirst into a battle against opponents with heavier firepower and knowledge over their army's weaknesses."

I nodded with my eyes wide open, astounded. How could a predator that lived deep underwater have so much knowledge over war strategy and know about our technology? Then again, how could he speak english?

"The bottom lies deeper, boy." Jellicent clasped his tentacles together, staring at the dark horizon ahead thoughtfully. "Spiritomb will need to get overwhelming power in a subtle way before revealing themselves to the world. A great source of energy."

"You mean the Cave of Origin?!" I exclaimed, perking up. Team Magma had used the Cave of Origin in their schemes six months before. The cave contained tremendous levels of Primal energy within it, so much that it had been enough to transform the legendary pokemon Groudon after it was awakened from its deep slumber by Team Magma. Primal Groudon's mere presence had been enough to rise Hoenn's temperature to extreme levels and debilitate several people of heatstroke before being stopped by a heroic trainer. And even then, their titanic battle was enough to destroy half of Sootopolis City and kill over a third of the population.

If Spiritomb were to use that power to get stronger...we had little chances of survival.

"Hm, that is a possibility." Jellicent conceded. "But not what I was talking about. There is another source. Perharps not as blatantly destructive, but just as efficient."

"What is it?!" Just as powerful as the Cave of Origin...wow.

"Have you heard of the Mirage Islands?" Jellcent inquired, tilting his massive head sideways.

"Uh, yes, I have!" I nodded quickly. "The phenomenon that causes islands to seemingly disappear during certain periods and reappear later on. But aren't they well known?"

"Most of them, apparently. But there is one I am certain you don't know." Jellicent said ominously, waving his tentacles. "There is this island that shows up very rarely. It supposedly has the power Spiritomb would need. But..." He closed his eyes. "This is all I know."

"So...you think Spiritomb would try to reach this misterious island?"

"Yes. I may not know exactly what's in there, but I know it is powerful. Absurdly powerful. And not as heavily guarded as I presume the Cave of Origin is."

"But if you don't know anything about it, how are we supposed to do anything?" I said in an exasperated tone. Probably not the wisest decision, but I was growing frustrated at that giant headed jellyfish.

"I don't. But there is someone you can speak to who knows the full tale." Jellicent seemed unfazed by my rude comment. "She is very knowledgeble over Hoenn's mythology, and is also an expert when it comes to ghosts. She can fully explain the island's tale and bring up ideas to deal with Spiritomb and their subordinates."

"What is her name?" I asked with a faint idea of who he was talking about.

"Phoebe. Tan skin, usually in a blue skirt, wears flowers in her hair." Jellicent described the girl. "She was the one who taught me english."

"Phoebe!" I exclaimed cheerfully, springing up and surprising the ghost. "She is a member of the Elite Four, one of the strongest trainers around! Of course! Where does she live?!"

"She lives in one of the Mirage Islands. Not a hard one to find, though, but one that tends to disappear once the sun touches its surface. If you wish me to get you there, you will have to be fast."

"Hmm, is it close to Mossdeep?" I asked, thinking. I hoped to be able to speak to Phoebe and warn papa about the threat. But to my confusion, Jellicent looked puzzled.

"Mossdeep? What do you want there?"

"I, uh, live there." I frowned. "That's where I'm going."

"Uh, boy..." Jellicent slowly raised a tentacle to point to where I had been coming from. "Mossdeep is that way..."

"WHAT?!" Well, that explained why I hadn't seen land for so long. I had been heading to the wrong direction! I was so scared, confused and sad that I hadn't realised I had gone to the direction opposite to Mossdeep! "SERIOUSLY?!"

"Calm down, at least you got closer to Phoebe's island." That cheered me up. At least it hadn't been total waste. "But you will have to get there before the sunrise. Are you willing to do this?"

"Of course I am!" I promptly exclaimed. I was partially responsible for freeing Spiritomb, and I would definitely aid on imprisoning it again. And Phoebe would hopefully know how to save Liza as well. My beloved twin sister was my top priority and nothing would change that. Papa could wait a little longer.

Turns out the jellicent couldn't get me to Phoebe's island, for he had family depending on him for food and he had to hurry. He was quite efficient explaining the way, however, and I understood after a short time.

"If I may know for future references..." He said as he floated through the floor after enabling the engine's working again. "What is your name?"

"Tate." I smiled slightly. "Do you...have one?"

"Bartolomeo." He answered proudly, looking content. Now that I could feel his emotions, he definitely wasn't the mindless beast I initially thought.

"Thank you for your help, Bartolomeo." My smile grew wider as I bowed my head and the ghost struggled to return it with his large head. "You really aren't a monster."

"Of course not." Bartolomeo chuckled as he floated over to the water and began sinking. "We will meet again, Tate. I will be sure to help as I can and intervene should any of Spiritomb's allies cross these waters."

And he disappeared into the deep ocean.

I quickly turned the boat to the appropriate direction (after double checking this time) and headed towards my destination. I needed to get there before the sun rose in order to get Summer medical attention as well. Phoebe probably had ways to heal pokemon in her island.

I hoped she was home.

Author's note:

Chapter 3 is up! Not as intense as the previous one, but Tate now has a goal and an idea over what he has gotten himself into.

Can't guarantee a fixed schedule, chapters will be done when they are done. My inspiration is annoyingly defective at times.

RadBattery: I will try to fix that, but no promises. I often don't realiss misplaced humor, heh. Thank you for the kind words, though!